On the heels of selling their land to Pharaoh, we are told that Joseph "removed them to cities." Our reaction might be, "huh?" Why move? They are about to be given seeds to plant their lands for when the famine ends. Don't they need to stay on the land (that Pharaoh now owns) and cultivate them? Commentators suggest various explanations: 1) the easier distribution of food, 2) to prevent mutiny, and 3) to keep them in their place as slaves. There is one other consideration: the effect of the drought. The people need not only food but also water. By the seventh year, all the wells would be dry. To survive, the people would need to be moved to where there is water, the cities located by the Nile River. This "great relocation" also echoes two themes of our story: the covenant (God provides for his people while the unbelievers suffer) and the land (the people of Israel never lose their land and never have to move). The relocation of the Egyptians also foreshadows the relocation of the Israelites to come: the Exodus.
But Joseph is not done. He institutes a 20% tax with Pharaoh's blessing (this is implied, for if he could not give the land of Goshen to his family without Pharaoh's permission, he certainly could not institute a tax on his own). But the tax would not have been anything new, as they had already been paying 20% to fill the granaries before the famine hit (at Joseph's suggestion!).
The section on Joseph's management of the economy is bracketed with another reminder that God's people had "possessions … and grew, and multiplied exceedingly." Another stark contrast between God's covenant people and unbelievers.
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Kurt Snow serves as a ruling elder at Covenant Reformed Church of Sacramento (RCUS). He served as a member of the Board of Governors of City Seminary of Sacramento from 2000 to 2020.
